The Cable: Kerry presses Singapore on death of American

Secretary of State John Kerry urged his Singaporean counterpart this week to cooperate

with U.S. law enforcement agencies on the investigation into the suspicious

death of American Shane Todd.

Todd was found

hanging in the bathroom of his Singapore apartment last June, just days before

he was planning to return to the United States. He had been working with the

Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institution linked to the

Singaporean government. Todd’s parents, who believe he was murdered, retrieved

a hard drive from his apartment they say shows Todd was worried Singapore was

planning to share his highly sensitive research with Huawei, a firm many have

alleged is closely tied to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

The initial

Singapore police autopsy report said that Todd’s death was a suicide, according
to a report in the Financial Times¸ but the Todd family said the autopsy report conflicted

with what they found in Todd’s apartment. Todd’s parents also found an external

hard drive that contained all of his research, including a plan for IME and

Huawei to co-develop an amplifier device powered by gallium

nitride (GaN), a durable semiconductor material that could also be applied to

radar and satellite communications.

The Singapore police rejected the FBI’s offers of

assistance in the investigation for months, prompting the extensive

intervention of Sen. Max Baucus

(D-MT). On Wednesday, Kerry raised the matter with Singaporean Foreign Minister
K Shanmugam in their bilateral meeting, a State Department spokesman

told The Cable.

“They discussed the case of Shane Todd’s death in

Singapore during their meeting,” Spokesman Patrick

Ventrell said. “Secretary Kerry noted that the FBI and U.S. Embassy in

Singapore continue their discussions with Singaporean authorities, and

encouraged close cooperation going forward in the investigation.”

State Department officials met with Todd’s family in Washington on March

1, and Kerry met with Baucus on March 7 to discuss the case. The two men worked closely together

in the Senate for many years.

“The

senator asked the secretary to look into the Todd case, and the secretary

agreed and is doing that, as discussed,” Ventrell said.

Baucus

also met with Shanmugan Wednesday and pledged to do “whatever it takes” to get

to the bottom of what happened to Todd.

“Today’s

meeting is about getting answers — getting complete answers. So far we’ve been

unable to get the answers we need to know what happened to Shane Todd, and we

are unable to know the degree to which there might be some breach of national

security,” Baucus said before the meeting.

Baucus has also met with the Todd

family, as well as FBI Director Robert

Mueller, the Singaporean ambassador to the United States, and White House

officials on the matter. On Thursday, Baucus and Sen. John Tester (D-MT) introduced a bill that would withhold a

$500,000 DOD grant to IME until the FBI gets full access to the investigation

file.

The Todd

family wants the FBI to take the lead on the death investigation. After his

meetings, Shanmugam extended an offer to have the FBI be involved and review

all the evidence, but not take over the probe.

“The institute involved, the

research institute, is subject to a very rigorous audit, and we are very happy

for a U.S. team to come down and look at the project, and it will be very clear

that there was no transfer of technology,” he said.

Baucus said that was a step in the right direction,

but not enough. “Singapore’s promise to

share all evidence with the FBI is a significant step forward and I appreciate

the minister’s time and attention to Shane’s case, now we

have to keep the pressure on to ensure that commitment is fulfilled — the

proof is in the pudding,” he said.

Huawei’s spokesperson in Washington, Francis Hopkins, provided an official

statement to The Cable denying that

Huawei was ever involved in Todd’s project in IME, though acknowledging that

cooperation was discussed.

“IME approached Huawei on one occasion to cooperate with them in the GaN

field, but we decided not to accept, and consequently do not have any

cooperation with IME related to GaN,” the statement said. “Huawei’s global

RD and sales relate only to telecommunications solutions for civil and

commercial use. Huawei does not do military equipment or technology nor do we

discuss it with partners.”

The Cable: Kerry presses Singapore on death of American